Corporate Mergers in the Publishing Industry: Helpful or Intrusive?

Abstract

Publishers have become important targets for takeovers, domestic and foreign. Has the extensive restructuring of ownership and control had a serious effect on the publication of books and tests of interest to academics? Have these changes been helpful or intrusive? These questions are addressed by examining the restructuring of publishing houses by domestic and foreign owners. Questions of cost and gain in both human and fiscal resources are analyzed in terms of changes in the psychological contracts between employers and employees as well as increased profits. The implications of these takeovers are discussed in terms of accumulated experiences in textbook publishing during the past three decades.